By: Zach Paikin

The Montreal/Ottawa region was proud to host two conferences this past week, both of them taking place in the nation’s capital.

First, the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee (CJPAC) hosted its annual fellowship conference. I was honoured to have been one of CJPAC’s senior fellows this year.

CJPAC is a national grassroots organization that mobilizes the pro-Israel community politically in a multi-partisan fashion during and between elections. The fellowship program recruits some of the most politically engaged pro-Israel students from across the students and brings them to Ottawa for a five-day conference. Fellows also get to partake in biweekly conference call with some of the big names in Canadian politics.

Students at the conference were able to refine their political skills through intensive training sessions, and also got to spend a day on Parliament Hill to meet with various Members of Parliament (MPs). Those we met this year include Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Ministers Jason Kenney, Peter Kent and Stockwell Day, Liberal MPs Anita Neville and Ken Dryden, Conservative Senator Linda Frum, and NDP Leader Jack Layton.

This year’s group of 49 fellows was one of the most impressive groups I’ve ever seen. The future of the Canadian Jewish community is in good hands.

Second, the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism held its second annual conference, this year in Ottawa. The inaugural conference took place last year in London, England. Several notables spoke at the event, including Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, Opposition Leader Michael Ignatieff, and former Justice Minister Irwin Cotler.

The result of the conference was the development of the “Ottawa Protocol”, which provides a concrete plan for parliamentarians from around the world to return to their home countries to fight antisemitism effectively.

We should never allow the monster that is antisemitism to rear its head. On the global level, the Jewish people face a continued existential struggle. Whether it’s antisemitic violence, terrorist attacks, the de-legitimization of the Jewish state or the Iranian nuclear weapons program, the free nations of the world need to stand up against hatred and injustice.

The Psalmist writes that those who love G-d must also hate evil. Yes, we must engage our community and our piers politically in order to build a better country. Yet we must also stare down those who oppose the very values that we cherish so dearly.

Finally, it was great seeing my Israel Inside/Out students Emile Scheffel and Delroy Dyer in Ottawa, as well as my Hasbara friend and colleague Ashley Faintuch!

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